A man wanted Canada-wide for multiple gun offences was arrested by VPD’s Emergency Response Team on Saturday night, after attempting to hide out in an East Vancouver housing complex.

VPD was called to the building, near Clark Drive and Powell Street, on Saturday afternoon to investigate an assault. When officers arrived, they learned a man with four outstanding warrants was hiding in one of the suites.

VPD negotiators worked alongside the Emergency Response Team for more than five hours, before the suspect eventually surrendered. He was taken into custody and was returned to jail.

Aaron Scott Hastie, 39, had two outstanding warrants for unauthorized possession of a firearm, a warrant for possession of a firearm while prohibited, and a warrant for carrying a concealed firearm.

The warrants stem from an incident in the Downtown Eastside in June 2021, when VPD officers arrested a man walking with a gun near Columbia Street and East Cordova Street.